Report: Government considering Bernama-RTM merger

Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo tells The Malaysian Reserve the proposal is part of efforts to reduce operation costs.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo says the merger is one of the proposals under consideration. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Putrajaya is reportedly considering a merger of Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) and national news agency Bernama as part of efforts to reduce operation costs.

In an interview with The Malaysian Reserve (TMR), Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said this was one of the proposals being considered ahead of the December deadline for RTM to transform its image.

“If a merger happens, perhaps the news sector can be sourced out to Bernama, and if that is done, we will be able to reduce costs at RTM and (this) means we will have extra funds for us to spend on content,” he told the business paper.

He added that the proposals were being studied by independent parties, and that decisions will be made based on their reports.

On May 28, Gobind gave RTM six months to project a new and more aggressive image to attract more viewers.

He said he had told the management to look at competitors such as CNN and Al-Jazeera in order to attract a higher viewership.

“If the people do not watch our programmes, then we will not be successful,” he said.

In the interview with TMR, Gobind also said there were no immediate plans to sell Bernama News Channel (BNC), which is owned and operated by Bernama.

“At this point, there are no plans to sell it. I personally think we can improve on Bernama and BNC… If you look at the infrastructure that they have, it is something that we can use almost immediately in order to enhance our national news reporting,” he said. -FMT